The long-term goal of this research program is to develop methods where by clinicians can predict both the benefit and the satisfaction that individual hearing-impaired patients will derive from amplification in daily life. The present proposal continues the research directions pursued in several cycles of previous RR&D funding from 1986 to 1996. This proposal has three primary objectives: (1) To determine the influence of extra-audiological variables, such as personality attributes and expectations, on the subjective outcomes of hearing aid fittings, (2) To establish a scientific basis for selection, administration, and interpretation of self-report measures of hearing aid fitting outcome, (3) To resolve the long-standing debate about the efficacy of using clinically measured loudness perception data in hearing aid prescriptions.